When your company uncovers evidence that an employee misappropriated trade secrets it must act swiftly. The company may want to fire the employee to protect itself from the potentially devastating consequences. But how can...more

In January of this year, we noted that trade secret protection has lately been on the minds of lawmakers in Washington, and that federal trade secret legislation was very close to being enacted. While nothing is pending at...more

Theft of trade secrets is a constant concern for many employers. Congress has listened, and over the course of this year, it has been moving forward with federal legislation aimed at protecting trade secrets. ...more

Long gone are the days when spies needed physical access to information to steal, copy, or photograph it; modern technology now enables instantaneous global access and transmission. Protecting trade secrets ranks high on...more

A number of states, including Tennessee, have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“UTSA”). A court may award attorney’s fees, if:
- A claim of misappropriation is made in bad faith;
- A motion to terminate an...more

Recent legal developments have made it more difficult to obtain and enforce some patents including, in particular, medical diagnostics and software-implemented technologies. Because of these patent law changes, a wide...more

In a case of first impression decided August 19, 2014, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has decided the standard for determining the scope of preemption under the Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA). The court adopted a...more

Key questions in most trade secret cases are whether information was misappropriated and whether that information qualified as a trade secret in the first place. Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act’s definition of a trade...more

Employers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Massachusetts legislature has rejected a bill to ban noncompetition agreements. The effort to outlaw noncompetes in the Commonwealth has...more

How do two companies end up liable for nearly $50 million in damages relating to confidential, trade secret materials? Like many romances gone awry, this tale arose from actions taken under cover of secrecy that did not look...more

Right of Publicity? First, Let Me Take a Selfie -
“Oh, he wants to do a selfie,” President Barack Obama observed with amusement before gamely posing with Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz. Ortiz snapped the...more

NEWSFLASH-Congress may actually do something.
There is talk of a bipartisan (you read that right, BIPARTISAN) bill to provide redress for trade secret theft in federal courts. Today trade secrets are the poor relations...more

The America Invents Act (AIA) changes the traditional calculus in determining whether to seek patenting an invention or to maintain it as a trade secret. This shift in intellectual property protection is the result of two...more

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, adopted by 47 states including Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, generally defines protectable trade secrets as information that derives independent economic value from not being...more

State court or federal court? If the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2014 (DTSA) (S. 2267, introduced on April 29, 2014) becomes law, then trade secrets plaintiffs — not just those who can maintain diversity jurisdiction — could...more

With a powerful industrial coalition lining up behind them, two senators are trying yet again to establish a federal right of civil action for trade secret misappropriation, potentially making trade secrets an IP stepchild no...more

It should be obvious that if you want trade secret protection, you shouldn’t wave your purported trade secret around in public. Likewise, if you see someone openly disclosing your trade secret on television, you should...more

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday last week, Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced the Future of American Innovation and Research Act, a new trade secrets bill that would allow American trade secrets owners to sue...more

For the two million Californians who have left the state in the past decade, Texas has been the most popular destination. Further, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs out of state— frequently to...more

Trade secrets can be some of the most valuable assets a company has and it is important put procedures in place to safeguard this information. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, adhered to by a majority of states, defines trade...more

Texas recently adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, making it effective on September 1, 2013. S.B. 953, 83rd Leg., Reg. Sess., § 4 (Tex. 2013) (the “Act”). The Act has been adopted by 46 other states, plus the U.S. Virgin...more

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